Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Well, sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.
As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is me, Andre Grant and Ural Garrett. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”
Is Martin Shkreli Bobby Shmurda’s Last Great Hope?
Andre: There have been so many people ready to bail out Bobby Shmurda, then something borderline ridiculous happens to block the execution. First his label was supposed to bail him out and almost kind of did but somehow that fell through. Then, 50 came along and said on the Breakfast Club that Epic failed Bobby and that he’d bail him out. A few months later, Fif’ owes Lastonia Leviston a neat $7 million for leaking her sex tape in 2009 and is filing for bankruptcy. His own aunt tried to bail him out, but that package also fell through. In the meanwhile, Bobby has been languishing in jail awaiting trial with his GS9 counterparts on mob-like charges. It’s becoming a curse, this trying to save Bobby Shmurda. Each time someone says they’re going to do it a tragedy befalls them. Whatever I was thinking of doing, now, has just gone out the window.
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Out of nowhere, then, to see the most hated man on the web, Martin Shkreli, say in an interview with DX’s own Justin Hunte that he was planning on bailing out Bobby Shmurda lit up red flags all over my literary mind. Here was clear foreshadowing, right? The guy who bought the Wu-Tang album for two million and then paraded it around like a glittery scarf he bought from Zara decided to take on two of the most contentious objects in 2015 rap: the metal box of Wu, and Bobby Shmurda’s bail. It was almost tailor made to blow up in his face in spectacular fashion. There would be center lights popping everywhere and everyone would watch the spectacle and scream “Aw!” Or, in Shkreli’s case, “good riddance!” The man’s world seems to be crumbling around him, and only a mere days after the news broke, but, here’s the thing, Martin Shkreli and Bobby Shmurda are now co-joined together by some kind fate.
The story of the two men couldn’t be more different, but there are similarities. Both New York kids. Both from Brooklyn, embodying the do-or-die mindstate made famous by the borough’s Hip Hop hall of fame. Both were out to get the American dream by any means. Bobby by selling crack since the age of 12, allegedly, and carrying enough guns to reinvade Hispaniola. Martin by astronomically raising the price on drugs that are so life or death that their dollar amount becomes a moral issue. This debacle shows, more than almost any piece of fiction, how rap and the dream that is America is the same. How New York is the embodiment of that doe or die mindset and how it’s almost destined to shatter. Thoughts of getting where Bobby and Martin are, are almost baked into the walls of dusty NY tenements. It also spins how the curse of money and fame doesn’t just affect Bobby Shmurda or the casts of Love and Hip Hop or Hip Hop at large, but the entire United States of America. If you’d made it up no one would have believed you.
So is Martin Shkreli Bobby’s last hope? The answer is yes, probably. And will he be the only one to follow through and actually bail out his cosmic twin? The answer, again, is probably yes. Because in a set of circumstances this absurd, the thing least likely to happen is the thing that probably does.
Ural: Considering the legal trouble Pharma Bro got himself into following his fairly savage interview with DX this week, I highly doubt it. From a legal standpoint, it looks fairly suspect for someone charged with a crime as serious as securities fraud to post bail for someone facing a plethora of charges like Bobby Shmurda. From now on, don’t be surprised if Martin Shkreli distances himself from anything regarding the “Hot Nigga” rapper. Has to be psychologically torturing for the Brooklyn-rapper. This could potentially be no different than when his own label Epic reneged on their original promise to bail him out. If the label was willing to let him go without much thought, the douchebag-ness of Shkreli eventually makes sense. Looking from their perspective, Shmurda is a means to an end in some form or fashion. On Epic’s side, they made enough money on “Hot Nigga.” However, something must have been shaky with the deal if Shmurda and crew still felt the need to still hold that much weight on them.
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Shkreli is doing everything possible to “buy” himself into Hip Hop and isn’t ashamed of his methods. The culture was once supposed to empower the disenfranchised against people like the pharmaceutical CEO. Now, Hip Hop has reached such a pop culture zenith and notion of “money over everything,” that all bets are off. The braggadocious materialism currently washing over contemporary rap radio is becoming enticing to young millennials within the one percent. Therefore, folks like Shkreli grow up loving the culture without understanding the social/economical context. Let’s be honest, he can care less about what happens to Shmurda. It just looks cool to be apart of the #FreeShmurda movement. Some could say it’s the equivalent to a white kid living in Bel-Air rocking a #FreeGucci T-shirt while being the first one to call the police when they see a “strange black man” in the area. The same guy who outrageously attempted to drive the per-pill price of vital AIDS medicine up feels compelled to post bail for someone possibly heading to jail once the upcoming trial concludes doesn’t sound like he’s handing out an olive branch. All of this smells like a lazy $2 million dollar marketing ploy.
Shmurda represents how messed America’s justice system has become (or has always been considering who one talk to) for black and individuals while those in power pretend to help and secretly exploit their infamy.
Let’s be honest, Shkreli isn’t Shmurda’s last hope because this is just bail. That doesn’t count charges that add up to 25-years in jail, which is older than his actual age. Taking a look into how much those in power, from the judge to prosecutor, are working overtime to keep Shmurda in jail, things could get mad real. Here’s also the ultimate question: At what cost? Shkreli is an opportunist who looks sociopathic enough to employ Shmurda as his personal jester in return for posting his bail. Think about it for a moment, if he’s already bitching about RZA’s fairly politically correct statement, lord knows what he’ll do to Shmurda once the jail desperation dissipates. And for the record, there’s no way anyone’s going to care much about any musical output Shkreli puts out because, well, we all know it’ll be called utter shit from both the progressive and traditionalist sides of Hip Hop.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
